The Plot: The H.I.V.E. (Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Eliminations) attempts to hire the mercenary Deathstroke to kill the new Teen Titans. Deathstroke refuses, but the H.I.V.E. scans him during their meeting and then grafts his power -- the ability to use the full capacity of his brain -- onto Grant Wilson. Calling himself the Ravager, Wilson attacks the Titans but overtaxes his abilities and dies.

Deathstroke, having followed Ravager to the Titans' temporary base, vows vengeance on them for their part in Ravager's death. Later, in his civilian guise, Deathstroke visits Grant Wilson's grave and reveals himself as Wilson's father. The H.I.V.E. members observe Deathstroke's mourning, pleased that they've acquired his services for no cost.

My Thoughts: There are several sub-plots in this issue too, as an attraction begins between Robin and Starfire, Cyborg spends more time hating his father, Kid Flash wonders if Raven did something to force him into rejoining the Titans, and Raven seeks forgiveness from... someone in a realm beyond our own before revealing to the Titans that the reason she gathered them together is about to become apparent.
We also learn -- though I assume longtime readers were already aware -- that Changeling, in his civilian identity as Garfield "Gar" Logan, is obscenely wealthy thanks to his stepfather, and he lives in a palatial estate in the Hamptons, where he brings the Titans for some rest and relaxation (thus allowing George Pérez to indulge himself by drawing Starfire and Wonder Girl in bikinis).

Speaking of the Hamptons, what's up with that? What's with these DC characters living in real cities? I like my Marvel characters in real world locations, but part of the fun and charm of the DC Universe is that its major heroes reside in places like Metropolis, Gotham City, Coast City, Gateway City, etc. putting the Titans in New York is boring! Anyone can live there. I'd much rather read about them in a brand-new city of Wolfman's own creation. As I recall, the 2000s TEEN TITANS animated series rectified this by placing Titans' Tower in the fictional Jump City.

The Plot: Notorious rapist Dr. Light* forms a villainous team consisting of himself and four new villains: Psimon, Gizmo, Shimmer, and Mammoth. Light wants the group to make their name by taking out the Titans, but Raven teleports the group to the villains' lair first, and a fight ensues. The Fearsome Five get the better of the Titans, but Light inexplicably orders a retreat before they can finish their enemies off.

Shortly thereafter, the Titans are invited to the grand opening of Titans' Tower on an island in the Hudson River. The group arrives to find a massive "T" shaped structure awaiting them, with no sign of whoever built it. Meanwhile, Raven visits the mysterious Trigon, an evil force which is her reason for uniting the Titans. She deduces that Trigon formed the Fearsome Five, and returns to Earth to explain to the Titans that the Justice League will soon release one of Trigon's demons on Earth, and Titans must challenge the League to prevent this.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Psimon, like Dr. Light, is also under Trigon's control. Psimon summons the Titans to the Fearsome Five's location, where the two groups do battle. The Titans are defeated and Psimon makes plans to set them against the Justice League. Raven, the only Titan not captured, decides that she must seek the Justice League's help to save the day.

My Thoughts: Did the above make any sense at all to anybody? I had to go back and skim the story again right after reading it to figure out what I'd missed, but as far as I can see, I got it all right. The JLA will release a demon. Raven wants to fight them to prevent this. But when the Fearsome Five show themselves, the Titans go after them instead. So Raven decides to get the help of the JLA, who earlier she wanted to fight, to save the Titans. Meanwhile, Psimon, controlled by Trigon, is going to send the Titans to fight the JLA -- which is exactly what Raven, working against Trigon, wanted to happen in order to stop Trigon!

Wolfman better have something up his sleeve for next issue to straighten all this out, because as of now it's one of the most unnecessarily labyrinthine comics I've ever read.

In other news -- we learn this issue that Starfire is the princess of planet Tamaran, but she wound up a slave when her father made a deal with his world's longtime enemies to bring about peace by turning her over to them six years ago. And I realize the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but holy cow! What a jerk!

Lastly, a blurb at the beginning of last issue declared the Titans to be "the most incredible super-hero group of all!" And the start of this issue tells us that "they are the best there is." I can't help thinking that both those statements should be followed by, "aside from the Justice League, of course". Maybe I'm being pedantic, but in the DC Universe, isn't the JLA unquestionably the best there is? I don't think any other team can, or should -- even in their omniscient narration -- be allowed to hold that title!

Which is my way of saying that if the Titans actually do beat the Justice League next issue -- even knowing this is their own series -- I will loudly declare shenanigans and accuse Wolfman and Pérez of "Mary Sue-ism". So tune in next time for that; it should be a good time.

* A development still decades away, chronologically, but something I feel I must mention because, thanks to Brad Meltzer, the character is retroactively damaged for the rest of eternity.

7 comments:

Funny, I thought you would comment more on NTT#2. Well, my turn.Back in '04, I did a Google discuss-a-thon thread on the first part of the series (up the Blackfire saga). It consisted mainly notes and questions. One was why Starfire waited so long to get her education-kiss? The answers I got were: she waited to consider which guy she wanted to kiss (qtd. George Grattan) or she wanted to see if it was socially acceptable to snog the living daylights out of Donna (qtd. Brian Doyle).

Super-heroes Comic Book 1980s norm: pool scenes had the male heroes wearing speedos or brief trunks. This too got some answers from Google posters about where Dick and Wally got their swimwear:-Borrowed clothing from Gar (unlikely for males, especially briefs) - qtd. George Grattan -The trunks were specially bought for such an occasion by the owners or Gar (as a lonely gesture of 'if I invite them over, they'll be my friends'). - qtd. Brian Doyle -Dick and Wally already had theirs (Dick's Robin suit and Wally stopped home). qtd. Michael

Issue 3. Ahh, memories. Once upon a time, Elson's Newsstands published a gesalt of three DC Comic issues of no relation, removed the covers (but kept all the ads and letter page), and combined the three into a collection. Only six volumes were released. My family had two of them. One had NTT#3, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, and WONDER WOMAN (with a Huntress story).

Donna has a great penthouse (and she can afford it thanks to Mommy...at least until Crisis), and we see Robin letting his hair down: no gloves, the vest opened up.

Psimon makes a good example of the 'Dues Professor X Machina' problem: taking down three Titans with his minds powers.

As for the plot, you left out the part where Raven, although considering defeating the JLA might be in their interest, eventually considers the alternative of reasoning with the JLA with everyone ignoring her. It might make sense with issue 4.

Good questions! I actually never thought about why Starfire waited so long to kiss somebody, but now that you mention that, that is odd.

As far as where the Titans got their swimwear, I would guess that the Dayton Estate simply has a wardrobe for impromptu pool parties (at Gar's insistence, of course). The idea that Wally swung by home for his makes sense too, and perhaps he picked some up for Dick or stopped by Wayne Manor as well. As drawn by Pérez in later issues, Robin's trunks are attached to the short sleeved green number he wears under his tunic, so I don't think that idea works.

Since you mention Donna's penthouse, I have to note something that didn't occur to me at the time: It's interesting that practically all of these Titans come from privileged backgrounds. Changeling has a wealthy stepfather, Robin has a wealthy "father figure", and Starfire and Wonder Girl are both princesses (albeit adopted in the latter's case). Cyborg, though he lives in the bad part of town these days, is the child of successful research scientists who presumably did all right for themselves. Even Kid Flash, when he returns home, lives in a pretty nice house. I don't think his family is rich, but they seem to be upper middle class, at least.

"...Raven [...] eventually considers the alternative of reasoning with the JLA with everyone ignoring her."

Hmm, you're right that I didn't mention that. I do recall a flashback where we see that she did try to reason with them first (prior to the events of this issue), but they kicked her out of their satellite because of the evil Zatanna sensed on her. I can't recall if that was shown this issue or next (I wrote these reviews a couple months back to build up a supply and stay ahead of schedule. I'm actually much further along at the moment).

Your comments on these two issues managed to trigger three things about the Teen Titans that have always bugged me.

1. putting the Titans in New York is boring! Anyone can live there. I'd much rather read about them in a brand-new city of Wolfman's own creation.

I'm right there with you on call counts, especially because it seems like the Titans are the only significant DCU character or team based in a real city, at least until Grell moves Green Arrow to Seattle.

2. The group arrives to find a massive "T" shaped structure awaiting them, with no sign of whoever built it

The fact that the Titans live and hangout in a giant T shaped building has always bugged me. Seems a little too on the nose, a little too Silver Age for a book that was very consciously trying to be a Bronze Age book, at least at the start. If it was a holdover from the team's earlier incarnation, fine, it gets grandfathered in, but it just seems silly relative to the more grounded approach Wolfman and Perez are taking (and FWIW, it wouldn't bother me at all if it was a T-shaped building lying down, only obviously a T when viewed from above. It's the fact that it sticks straight up that really bugs me).

3. I can't help thinking that both those statements should be followed by, "aside from the Justice League, of course". Maybe I'm being pedantic, but in the DC Universe, isn't the JLA unquestionably the best there is?

Finally, this is my biggest problem with the concept of the Titans as a whole. They don't seem to have a good in-universe explanation for being a team. Obviously, their deal is "a team comprised of the Justice League's sidekicks" and out-of-universe, that's a fantastic concept for a series. But they never really get a good in-universe explanation for being a team.

The Avengers and the JLA are their world's mightiest heroes. The X-Men fight for mutant rights and to protect humans from evil mutants. The FF are a family and often rock the explorer angle, while the Doom Patrol is family-esque in that it's a collection of misfits, etc.

This introductory story does a decent job of establishing why Raven assembled this particular group of characters, and eventually, inertia is enough to justify keeping any team together, but in between those times, it has always seemed to me that the Titans don't have a very good in-universe hook for being a team beyond the obvious (and cool) marketing one.

Keep in mind, these are all just little conceptual nitpicks that have always nagged at me. I'm new to the New Teen Titans book but I've been reading about the Titans pretty consistently since the mid 90s and none of this is enough to turn me off the concept entirely or anything like that.

Personally, I liked that they were in NYC. I understand the reasons you guys mentioned for not liking that, though.

"The fact that the Titans live and hangout in a giant T shaped building has always bugged me"

Again, that never really bugged me. The book initially does seem to still have one foot, or at least, one toe still in the Silver Age, which is one thing I liked as well. We do get less of that as the series goes on, and I can see why it might not appeal to everyone (and I say this as someone who isn't a fan of the Silver Age in general), but it works for me. Hey, if nothing else, you shouldn't turn down a free headquarters that is gifted to you from the dad of one of your teammates ;)

"it has always seemed to me that the Titans don't have a very good in-universe hook for being a team beyond the obvious (and cool) marketing one."

My fanwank: they still want to operate as superheroes, but don't feel they fit in with the JLA, and don't want to see their talents go to waste.

Dang, I have a feeling I'm going to be a huge apologist for this series as we go on lol

The huge "T" doesn't bother me all that much either, Silver Age-y though it is. But, Teebore, I do like your idea about a "T" on its side instead.

The only thing that actually bugged me a little bit about the "T" is how small it is. I feel like it should be huge, but according to the blueprints provided in its first appearance, it's only something like seven or eight stories. That's a pretty short "tower"!

As far as the Titans' reason for existing -- maybe the Justice League has a minimum age requirement? Though as several of these Titans are 18 by now, that might not be an issue. But one also gets the impression, at least from Wolfman's run here, that the Titans want to prove to their elders that they're just as good as them. Robin's character arc as he becomes Nightwing can sort of be seen as the team coming into its own as more than just a gathering of sidekicks (Kid Flash quits in the same storyline, leaving Wonder Girl as the only "junior" version of an adult hero on the group, and since she was never actually Wonder Woman's sidekick -- thanks to behind-the-scenes confusion on her origins -- she is, in a way, already her own person).

Evidently the in-story reason they got together was because their mentors had been brainwashed and they had to save the day. Funny thing is that this origin story was revealed on the final issue of TEEN TITANS before the Wolfman/Perez relaunch (the story had Mal learning the origin, and then Robin announcing the team breaking-up!)But I suppose there's a 'birds of a feather...' for the team staying together. Who could these sidekicks talk to aside from their mentors, especially if their issues are about their mentors? (Although in the 70s the only angsty sidekick was Speedy's drug abuse via Green Arrow's neglect).The new team-up make sense. Starfire, Gar, Raven, and Cyborg see the other Titans as their only friends. Donna was usually a willing team player that always benefited from the team: they were her first male friends in Man's World. During a time when Paradise Island had vanished (I think this was during Wonder Woman's powerless Emma Peel phase), Donna secretly used the Titans HQ as her room & board before the others found out and got her an apartment (not the least benefit was that her character's creation especially for the comic). Dick sees the team as an opportunity to prove himself. Only Wally had issues about it (something this series does not ignore).

"Who could these sidekicks talk to aside from their mentors, especially if their issues are about their mentors?"

That's a good point; perhaps, as far as the Titans go, it's less a matter of being a superhero team and more about being a group of friends. The Justice League is like a job for its members, but the Titans is more like a... club, I guess. These teens mostly all have friends in their civilian lives, through school or whatever else, but none of those friends can understand them quite like their teammates.